Published: Wednesday, January 29, 2014 at 02:40 PM.

Despite experiencing the largest snowfall in nearly 25 years, Lenoir County and the surrounding areas had very few problems with the inclement weather.

Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Roger Dail said the area received from 4 to 7 inches of snow, but there weren’t many accidents. The snowfall, which started in Lenoir County after midnight on Wednesday, followed several hours of sleet and ice falling that resulted in about an inch of ice below the snow.

“There was a structure which fell caused by a chimney fire on Paul’s Path Road by North Lenoir Fire Department,” Dail said. “Other than that and a few accidents, that was about it.”

First Sgt. R. Bowen of the N.C. Highway Patrol said there were 10 vehicle accidents in Lenoir County and three in Jones County between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but none of the accidents were serious.

“There were several instances of vehicles sliding off the road or stuck in ditches,” Bowen said. “In one instance, a vehicle was pulled out of a ditch and the driver was then able to continue on his way.”

Commander Tim Dilday of the Kinston Department of Public Safety said the organization responded to about 15 accidents between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday — many involving drivers being stuck or stranded.

“We’ve also responded to at least 15 incidents Wednesday morning, including someone in an electric wheelchair who was stuck in the middle of the street,” Dilday said.

Despite experiencing the largest snowfall in nearly 25 years, Lenoir County and the surrounding areas had very few problems with the inclement weather.

Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Roger Dail said the area received from 4 to 7 inches of snow, but there weren’t many accidents. The snowfall, which started in Lenoir County after midnight on Wednesday, followed several hours of sleet and ice falling that resulted in about an inch of ice below the snow.

“There was a structure which fell caused by a chimney fire on Paul’s Path Road by North Lenoir Fire Department,” Dail said. “Other than that and a few accidents, that was about it.”

First Sgt. R. Bowen of the N.C. Highway Patrol said there were 10 vehicle accidents in Lenoir County and three in Jones County between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, but none of the accidents were serious.

“There were several instances of vehicles sliding off the road or stuck in ditches,” Bowen said. “In one instance, a vehicle was pulled out of a ditch and the driver was then able to continue on his way.”

Commander Tim Dilday of the Kinston Department of Public Safety said the organization responded to about 15 accidents between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m. Wednesday — many involving drivers being stuck or stranded.

“We’ve also responded to at least 15 incidents Wednesday morning, including someone in an electric wheelchair who was stuck in the middle of the street,” Dilday said.

Lenoir County Sheriff Chris Hill said deputies responded to incidents with vehicles turned over when the icing of the roads first occurred, but there wasn’t anything too traumatic.

However, the sheriff also said many roads still weren’t conducive for travel — and probably wouldn’t be today.

“We have seen a lot of travelers on the road trying to see things, but the roads are terrible,” Hill said Wednesday afternoon. “Most of the secondary roads and some of the main ones are still ice and snow-covered. They’re in bad shape and the temperatures are not expected to get above freezing, so more than likely, the roads will look the same way (today) they did (Wednesday).

“People need to stay home if they don’t have to get on the roads.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the snowstorm and the ice storm that preceded it were the lack of power outages. Although multiple attempts to reach Duke Energy Progress failed, Kinston Public Services Director Rhonda Barwick said everything ran smoothly.

“We’re thankful we haven’t had any power outages and fortunate there was no ice on the utility lines,” Barwick said.

Barwick also said workers have been doing their best to clear roads as well.

“The street staff is still out there with plows,” she said. “We’ve had ice and sleet come first to pack down on roads, then the snow came on top of it. We’ve been preparing as well as we could, and overall, things have been well.”

A water main line did break at the water tower site on Cunningham Road, but Barwick said it won’t affect customers.

“It’s not an urgent situation, and we’ve shut the water tower off,” Barwick said. “Repairs will be made in a couple of days, as we’re waiting for the snow and ice to clear so we can dig and fix the problem.”

In Greene County, there was about 4 inches of snow on top of a sheet of ice, but in some places it was about an inch less, Emergency Management Director Randy Skinner said.

He said he wasn’t aware of any power outages, but there were three ice-related wrecks, with one on N.C. 58.

“That one was a turnover and that was on Highway 58 North,” Skinner said.

One person was taken to the hospital. Another wreck on U.S. 258 South sent three people to the hospital. Skinner said he didn’t know if there were any serious injuries in those accidents.

The Greene County roads were in bad shape Wednesday with a layer of ice under the snow. Although NCDOT is working on the roads, Skinner said he expects road conditions to remain dangerous this morning, as well.

“If you don’t have to go anywhere, stay home,” he said Wednesday, “What they’re doing today is going to be there tomorrow, then what you’re going to have is black ice on the road.”

In Jones County, Detective Timothy Cory of the Jones County Sheriff’s Office said there were only two reported accidents Tuesday night, and one Wednesday morning.

“Everyone been doing a good job of being careful and staying off the roads,” he said.

Karen Goodall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said temperatures will be above freezing today and Friday, clearing the snow soon.

“Temperatures will be in the mid-to-upper 30s (today) and in the mid-40s by Friday,” Goodall said.

Jon Dawson, Margaret Fisher and Noah Clark contributed to this report. Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.